Beautiful Stranger
by everfaraway
Summary: "You didn't forget about me did you? You promised not to when we were kids remember?" she asked.. Suddenly the voice stirred his memories.. He pulled her against his chest, surprised she still fit perfectly into his arms. Mature content to come later. R
1. Chapter 1

Straight Out of His Past

_**Author: My first Power Ranger fic! Tommy is the White Ranger but I don't know I wanna replace Zack,  
Jason & Trini with Adam, Rocky & Aisha. I own Tanya & Dawn. The character of Tanya has gone through  
a few changes over the years, starting out as a tomboy punk character named Tammy. Then I changed  
her name to Tabitha but kept the same attitude. Tanya is the finished product & I'm pleased with her.**_

"Heads up!" Zack shouted. "Got it!" Kim called, running after the frisbee. Tommy smiled as he tied his hair up in a ponytail. He and his team was out in the park taking it easy. It was warm, sunny morning as perfect as any of them could ask for, provided their communicators didn't go off. Kim snatched up the frisbee and gave him a loving smile. She was his girlfriend of a couple of years and he never regretted a moment of it. She was the girl next door, with long brown hair, brown eyes, a light tan and dressed in white shorts and a pink tank top. Kim broke eye contact and flicked the frisbee to Billy.

His eyes followed the frisbee as it flew to Billy, who jumped to catch it. Billy seemed like the odd man out at first glance; the rest of them being extremely involved in martial arts in some way or in Kim's case, gymnastics while he preferred a computer or book. But the teen with blue eyes, dirty blonde hair, glasses, in a blue short sleeve shirt and jeans fit in perfectly. Billy was the first to attempt to figure out a problem when one arose. Even though he could hold his own in a fight, he was their baby brother, the one everyone looked after. "Head's up Tommy!" he called.

Tommy broke into a run as the frisbee glided past him and kept going. "Sorry!" Billy shouted meekly. He laughed, jumped and caught it when it was still about five feet off the ground. However when he landed, his feet hit a wet patch of grass and he slipped, landing on his butt.

"You okay man?" Zack asked, coming over.

"Yeah I'm good." he said, brushing blades of grass off his jeans. There were a few wet spots on his white tank top but those would dry fairly quickly. He brushed a couple of stray strands of dark hair from his face as he glanced at his friends with dark eyes shining playfully. "Trini!" he shouted, throwing the multicolored toy back to the rest.

Zack was one of Tommy's closest friends. The lone African-American teen in their group was confident, cheerful, funny and clever. He always knew how to make his friends laugh if they were upset or nervous. He had his dark hair cut short and his dark eyes sparkled with warmth. He wore a simple yellow and red shirt with black work out pants, much like the ones they wore practicing karate. Zack clapped him on the shoulder as they headed back towards where the others stood.

Trini jumped, spun once in mid-air to catch the frisbee and landed easily on her feet. The beautiful dark haired and dark eyed Vietnamese girl was one of the most loyal people he have ever met. She was kind, loving, protective and honorable. It never stopped amazing anyone how well Trini understood everything and everyone around her. She wore a yellow tank top that showed her stomach and yellow shorts. She gave a Tommy a sweet smile as if to show sympathy for his slip before she turned and threw the frisbee to Jason.

Jason was Tommy's best friend and the brother he never had. He was loyal, friendly, caring and always willing to someone out. Some people even asked if they were related at times but none of their friends saw any resemblance between them. Jason's hair was dark like his eyes but he was a couple of inches shorter and a bit heavier built that Tommy. He was strong, kind hearted, fearless and willing to help anyone no what he had to do. Tommy envied him at times for those qualities. As usual he wore a red tank top and a pair of black work out pants. Jason smirked at him as he snatched the frisbee out of the air then turned to him, meaning to toss it to him.

"Tommy!"

Everybody paused and Tommy gave them each a questioning look. Each of his friends shrugged.

"Tommy Oliver!"

"Who's that?" Billy asking, nodding towards the hill. He turned to look at the figure before motioning for the others to stay put and heading up the grassy incline. A girl about his age was waiting for him with her hands on her hips. She had a light tan, shoulder length black hair and hazel eyes. Tommy cocked his head; she felt familiar like an old friend he hadn't seen in years and barely remembered.

"You didn't forget about me did you? You promised not to when we were kids remember?" she asked.

Suddenly the voice stirred his memories. It wasn't as weak as he remembered it being, but at that time she had been very sickly. But none the less, it was her.

"Tanya." he said softly.

"I've missed you." she whispered, hugging him.

He pulled her against his chest, surprised she still fit perfectly into his arms just like she had when they were kids and she had been tiny from being so sick. "Missed you too but what are you doing here?" he whispered. She barely came to his shoulders and probably weighed a little over half what he did.

"Mom wanted a new start for us. I guess she's trying to leave everything behind." she told him.

Tommy lifted his nose from her hair to look around and asked, "She here too?"

"No, she's at home. Kicked me out of the house so I could go get some exercise." she smirked.

He held her a couple of inches away from him and asked, "Are you still sick?"

"Sometimes but not nearly as much. Kinda glad thought because I'm so tired of be stuck in bed and surrounded by doctors." she whispered.

He smiled and said, "Come on, I want you to meet my friends."

Kim smiled up at Tommy as he came up to them then she looked past him at the girl behind him. She hung back a bit as if she was shy. "Come on, they're okay." Tommy told her.

Trini gave the girl a warm smile as she walked up to the blanket they all sat on.

"Who's she?" Kim asked with a slight hint of jealousy in her voice.

Tommy gave her a quick look that said to ease off and said, "My cousin Tanya. She just moved in."

"Hi." Tanya whispered, settling on the blanket between Tommy and Billy.

"That's Billy Cranston, Zack Taylor, Trini Kwan, Jason Scott and my girlfriend Kim Hart." Tommy said, motioning around the circle. Kim gave the girl a small smile, feeling a bit guilty about being jealous only moments before.

Zack and Billy both looked her over before giving her warm smiles. Jason however had a problem not tearing his eyes away from her. She wore a pair of light blue denim shorts and a dark green tank top with tennis shoes. The way she watched all of them through her bangs made him realize she wasn't used to people and there were a few slightly visible indention in the skin around her wrists, back of her hands and the inside of her elbows that made him wonder what could have caused them.

"How come you haven't mentioned her before man?" Zack asked.

"We were really close as kids but then his dad and my mom got into a huge fight. Then they went their separate ways." Tommy said quietly.

"I was really sick as a kid so when they left, we couldn't afford a phone." Tanya admitted. Then she leaned against Tommy's side and buried her face in his ribcage as he slid an arm around her. He reached up, pulled his hair from it's ponytail and lowered his head. Everybody knew those simple actions well and what they meant. He was grappling with some sort of inner demon or grief.

"_What a sad little story? Do you remember why they fought?"_ a painfully familiar voice in his mind cackled.

"_Shut up." _he growled silently.

"_You're slipping Tommy."_ his evil half whispered.

"_I'm not slipping and one day I swear I'll get rid of you."_ he snarled.

Kim went to set a hand on his arm but thought better of it when his fingers twitched with a small muscle spasm before closing around the fabric of his jeans.

"_You're not hurting anyone anymore."_ Tommy said firmly.

His evil half laughed and said, _"When you slip Tommy, even for a second, I will take over. And then I will return to my empress and the world shall fear the Green Ranger once again." _

"_You will never come out again."_ Tommy growled, giving his other half a firm shove back into the darkest recesses of his mind.

"Tommy?" Trini asked. His eyes opened and he looked at her. There was slight green glow to his usually dark eyes that quickly disappeared, leaving his eyes a bit red and blood shot. "Are you alright?" she whispered.

"Yeah, fine." he said. His voice was a bit thicker and deeper than normal.

Kim set a small vial of eye drops in his hand with a long look. He gave her a weak smile as he slid his arm from around Tanya and tilted his head back. A few seconds later he wiped the excess away with the hem of his shirt and passed the vial back to his girlfriend who tucked it back into her purse.

Tanya wiped a couple of tears off her cheeks. "Are you still sick?" Jason asked.

"Sometimes but not nearly as much or as badly. No more being hooked up to an IV all the time." she whispered. As soon as the word IV left her lips, Jason recognized the slight indentions in her skin for what they were.

"_God this poor girl."_ he thought. Something in his stomach fluttered in a way he hadn't felt before and couldn't name.

"A friend of mom's has a kid who goes to the Youth Center here a lot. She visited last year and saw an old picture of Tommy. Mom explained who it was and her friend said there was someone here with same name. So after she described Tommy, mom decided to move us down here." Tanya said.

"That sounds like her." Tommy chuckled.

"Do you wanna go see her?" Tanya asked.

"Yeah. You mind if they come too?" he asked, nodding to the others.

"No, come on." she said, getting up.

The walk there was close to 10mins and in that time, they realized that Tanya and her mom lived close to Zack. "This is it." she announced as she led them up the porch steps and opened the door. "I'm home!" she called.

"That you baby?" a voice called from further in the house.

"Yeah it's me! Guess who I met up with in the park!" Tanya shouted back.

"Bring them upstairs will you? I'm in my room!" the other asked.

Tanya motioned them to follow her upstairs and whispered, "Sorry about all the boxes."

They dodged boxes and made it into the master bedroom on the second floor where the door stood open. Peeking into the bathroom, Tanya saw her mother standing on the edge of the tub. "What are you trying to do mom?" she asked.

"Put up this shower curtain up but not having much luck." she admitted.

"Will you come meet my friends? I have a surprise for you." Tanya asked.

"Sure baby, we'll fight with the curtain later huh?" the older woman teased. Tanya smiled as her mother walked out of the bathroom.

"This is Jason Scott, Kim Hart, Trini Kwan, Zack Taylor and Billy Cranston." she told her mother.

"Dawn Oliver, nice to meet all of you." she said, before whispering to her daughter, "Either of those cute boys my surprise?"

"No Mom. You're surprise is waiting in the hall." she said as she playfully shoved her mother to the door.

"Alright." she laughed and opened the door. As soon as she did her eyes widened.

"Hi Aunt Dawn." Tommy said.

"Tanya." Dawn called. Tanya came to stand in the doorway.

"Told you it was a surprise." she teased.

"Oh my God, you grew up into such a handsome boy." Dawn whispered, hugging Tommy. He smiled; she was exactly like he remembered except older and a lot happier. She didn't seem quite exhausted or sad the way she had when he was younger.

Tanya leaned against the door frame as Kim, Trini, Jason, Zack and Billy came up behind her. All six smiled at seeing Tommy so happy. "He always said he didn't look like his dad." Kim whispered.

"He looks like my mom." Tanya said. Like Tommy, Dawn had black haired that was tied back in a braid and warm chocolate colored eyes.

"You don't look like them." Billy observed. Tanya shrugged lightly. It didn't matter to her who looked like who, only that she, her mom and her cousin were all a family again.

_**Dedicated to the memories of Thuy Trang, the original Yellow Ranger & Erik Frank who appeared  
in a few episode of Power Rangers Zeo as David Trueheart alongside his real life brother Jason  
David Frank who is famous for his role of Tommy Oliver. May they both rest in peace.**_


	2. Chapter 2

Intimate or Just Extremely Affectionate

_**Author: Second chapter. Okay, original this chapter & the first were one big chapter. The first chapter was only  
a page then too & it got alot longer after I rewrote it. Thanks brankel1 for the review on chappie 1. I only own  
Dawn & Tanya. I wish I owned Tommy. R&R plz!**_

"Hey Tommy, where's Tanya?" Ernie asked.

"Probably at home. Mind if I use your phone to call and check on her?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah go ahead it's in the corner."

The teen slid onto a stool in the corner and dialed his aunt's phone number.

"Oliver residence." came his aunt's soft voice, more worn out that usual.

"It's Tommy, is Tanya there?" he asked.

"She's asleep right now honey. She didn't feel good when she got up this morning." Dawn said.

Tommy cringed inwardly and asked, "Is she really sick?"

"I don't think. She seems like she's just worn out, but I didn't want to risk sending her to school." she said.

"I could have taken care of her Dawn, you know that." he whispered.

"I know you could have baby but while don't you drop by after school to see her. She should be up by then." Dawn told her.

"I'll be there, see ya Dawn." he said, before hanging up. A sharp stab of anger raced through him before he shoved it away. _"Not this time."_ he thought as he sat back down between Billy and Kim.

"Is she sick again?" Trini asked.

"Dawn said she thinks she's just worn out but didn't want to send her to school." he muttered.

"That's understandable." Billy said.

"I think I'm gonna skip out on karate to run over and check on her after school. Think you can manage on your own Jas?" he asked.

"Yeah don't worry." Jason assured him. Kim gave her boyfriend a small smile and squeezed his hand.

"_Such a bleeding heart."_ his dark half growled.

A couple of hours later, Tommy raised his fist and knocked on his aunt's front door. The knock echoed through the foyer and no doubt into the living room and kitchen. A moment later Dawn opened the door. "Hey sweetie." she whispered, letting him inside.

"Is she awake?" he asked.

"In the living room... I'm sorry I didn't let you know she wasn't going to be there." she told him.

"It isn't that." he muttered.

"I know you could have taken care of her, you always did. But... it's been just us for a long time. Just me to take care of her." Dawn said, sliding an arm around his abdomen.

"I know. I guess some old habits just die hard." he whispered, squeezing her hand.

"Don't let that habit die." she told him just before she let him go.

Tommy nodded and walked into the living room. "Everybody's worried about you." he said, sitting on the couch and tossing his bag onto the floor.

"I should be back tommarow, I feel a lot better than I did when I woke up." Tanya said with a small smile.

"Don't push it Tanya." Dawn warned.

"Sure mom." she muttered, leaning against the arm of the couch as she rolled her eyes.

"Are you hungry Tommy?" his aunt asked.

"No, I ate at the Juice Bar. Thanks though." he said.

"Just let me know when you are and I'll make some dinner." she told him. He nodded as she disappeared into her room.

As soon as she was gone, Tanya got up and said, "Come on." Tommy got up, grabbed his bag and followed her upstairs.

"In here." Tanya said, opening the door to her room. "This is the room I always wanted. Once we had the money and moved here, I was able to have it." Tommy's eyes widened as he followed her inside. Three walls and ceiling were shades of blue that faded into purple on the fourth. On the fourth wall, the on behind her bed a setting sun was painted and stars were scattered everywhere. The moon was on the ceiling, painted around the light in a shade of silver that Tommy swore had to glow in the dark.

"Did you do this?" he asked.

"Yeap, it took me three days. Mom kicked me while the paint was drying and that's when I found you in the park." she said. He nodded and turned to face her. She was laying on her four post bed. The bed itself stood out against the dark shades of the walls. The wood was beautiful dark brown while the sheets and pillow cases where silver. The comforter thrown over the sheets was gold. "Come on." she whispered. He pulled off white short sleeve shirt and settled down on the bed facing her. She sighed as he pulled her against him and let his slide her long shirt up. Her arms slid around his waist as the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

"Are you okay?" he asked, feeling her stiffen slightly.

"Yeah, thanks for coming over." she whispered.

"Anytime." he breathed as he tied the tail of her shirt into a knot.

Not long later Dawn stuck her head in and found them asleep, with the blankets pooled around their waist. Tanya's back was pressed again Tommy's bare stomach and his arms were wrapped tightly around her waist. Her shirt tail was tied in a knot just above the bottom of her ribcage, leaving her stomach bare. His shirt was sitting in the chair atop his bag. She shook her head and walked out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

Seduction Into Evil

_**Author: It is 5am & I'm exhausted so I will make this quick. Contains some yuri/fem-slash & language.  
**__**No flames since you were warned. I own nobody but Tanya & in a way Saiyuri. But I don't own Saiyuri outside of  
her disguise, if that makes since. I don't think the character who goes as Saiyuri has a human form, if so: sorry.  
Any ideas as to who she might be, leave 'em in a review. Oh yeah, has Skull-bashing too. I'm off to bed now, night.**_

Weeks had turned into months and before anyone realized it, Tanya had been at Angel Grove High six months. She had missed some school after having gotten sick every couple of months but it didn't effect her grades much. In her free time she was with Tommy and their friends, both alone and together. She went to the movies with Kim, hung around the Juice Bar with Trini, studied with Billy, listened to Zack's jokes, studies martial arts with Tommy and went out with Jason. However the one thing she had noticed was that at very odd times, her cousin, boyfriend and the others would disappear. She'd get an small smile and kiss from Jason as an apology when they returned and as much as it confused her, she forgave them all. All the smiles and kisses in the world couldn't smash her dislike at being left behind.

"Here we go." Ernie said as he set a cake down on the counter.

"You didn't have to do this Ernie." Tanya told him.

"Yeah he did, you've been here 6 months, that's something to celebrate." Kim objected. Tanya shrugged, knowing there was no way she'd win this fight.

"Come on girl you know this is something special." Zack reminded her.

"You're something special." Jason whispered in her ear, making her turn as red as his shirt.

Tommy smiled his cousin and her boyfriend before smirking, "Behave kids."

"So says you." Tanya, Jason & Kim shot back. He shrugged and left his hand where it sat low on Kim's hip.

"We're glad you're here." Trini said as Billy nodded in agreement.

Ernie passed out pieces of cake and said, "Drinks are on the house today kids."

"Thanks." they all said as he turned away to make them their usual slushies and fruit juices.

"Looks like the dweeb squad is having a party." a voice laughed from behind them as Ernie sat their drinks down.

"Don't you guys have lives or something?" Tanya asked, looking over her shoulder at Bulk and Skull.

Skull smirked and gave her a lust filled look. "Ya free tonight?" he asked.

"Only in your dreams." she told him.

"What about you Kimberly?"

"Fat chance." she scoffed.

"Boys don't you that hitting on another guy's girl is bad karma." Trini said.

"Keep your karma." Bulk spat.

"And dump your boy toys and I'll show you what a _**real **_man is like." Skull smirked.

"Kids." Ernie warned. Jason, Tommy and Zack had slid off their stools to stand in front of Tanya, Trini and Kim. They weren't about to let anyone talk to the girls like that. Billy got up slowly to stand slightly behind and between Zack and Tommy.

"You two are far from men. In fact the only real men I know are either dead, right here or half a state away." Tanya said, getting up and wrapping her arms around Jason's shoulder to rest her chin on his shoulder. The look in her eyes mixed in with her body language plainly said that he was hers & she wasn't interested in anyone else.

"You two heard the lady." Zack said as Trini slid an arm around his waist and he rested the arm that didn't go around her waist around Billy's shoulders. Nobody was really sure if Zack and Trini were together or not. And poor Billy was often the odd man out when their group suggested group dates but they did their best to not leave him out.

"Get lost boys." Kim said as she wrapped an arm around Tommy's waist and her other around one of his arms. She, like Tanya, claimed her territory and had no intention of either handing her man over much less becoming someone else's woman.

Tommy smiled slightly and whispered, "All of those men are a thousand times better than you two could ever hope to be." He knew exactly who Tanya had been talking about. The first two were their great grandfather and grandfather, both had fought in wars and were long dead. The last was the doctor who had spent the past almost 40 years taking care of first Dawn and Tommy's father, then the two of them, also a war veteran. Their great grandfather had served in the World War II and died in combat. Their grandfather had served in the Vietnam war, also dieing in combat. The family doctor, then a medic, had been a close friend of their grandfather's who had tried and sadly, failed to save his life.

Bulk & Skull looked at the seven other teens and decided the odds were not in their favor. They were after all looking at four talented martial artists, a dancer, a gymnast and a nerd. With a couple of dangerous glares in the group's direction, they stalked away. "Jerks." Kim muttered.

"Agreed." Billy muttered as a soft series of beeps rang out.

Jason planted a kiss on Tanya's cheek before he and the others disappeared. Ernie payed their disappearance no attention but Tanya silently fumed. "Hey Ernie I'm gonna head to the park for a bit. If Jas, Tommy and the others come back, tell them to head there." she told him.

"Ok, kiddo. Here, take some cake home for u and your mom." he said, handing her a plastic container & lid.

"Thanks." she said, cutting a few pieces and sliding them into the container.

*On The Moon*

"Look at her. Left all alone by her friends." Rita laughed, turning away from her telescope.

"How do you plan to get your hands on her, my devious devil woman?" Zedd asked his bride.

"I have a plan." a silky voice offered.

*Back in Angel Grove Park*

Tanya kicked a small rock into the grass before she sat down on one of the benches. "Where do you guys keep going?" she muttered.

"Looking for someone?"

She looked back over her shoulder quickly. A rather attractive Asian looking young woman stood off to her right. Her dark hair was cut shoulder length and her dark eyes were sparkling. "I didn't mean to scare you." she said.

"It's alright, I was thinking aloud." Tanya admitted.

"Do you mind if I sit down?" the woman asked in silky voice.

"No go ahead." she said. The other woman walked over: she was well endowed and had long legs.

"My name is Saiyuri Akira." she told her.

"Tanya Oliver. Where are you from with such an odd name?" she asked.

"I'm the first one of my family born here in America. My parents were both born in Japan." Saiyuri explained.

"Oh, how long have you been in Angel Grove?" the younger woman asked.

"Only a few days, I'm here visiting." she said.

"You're not a student?" Tanya realized.

"I graduated in December." Saiyuri told her.

"Oh.." Tanya whispered; she couldn't stop staring at this beautiful young woman. Butterfly's began to flutter in her stomach.

"Are you alright?" the older girl asked.

"Yeah, fine. I'm sorry I didn't mean to stare... it's just, you're beautiful." she stammered, blushing.

Saiyuri blushed and said, "Thank you. You're very pretty yourself."

This time Tanya blushed as Saiyuri glanced around to make sure there was no one else around. Tanya had walked to a bit less frequented part of the park because she wanted to be alone.

"I'm not that beautiful." Tanya whispered.

"Yes you are." Saiyuri said, just before she kissed her. Tanya's eyes went wide with shock then fluttered closed as warmth flooded through her. The Japanese-American girl's lips were so much softer than Jason's, so much gentler.

Saiyuri ran her thumb over Tanya's cheek as she pulled away. "Do you believe me?" she asked.

Tanya blinked; the world was fuzzy around the edges. "I... Yeah." she muttered. Something beeping brought her quickly back to reality.

"Darn it." Saiyuri hissed, fishing a pager from her purse. "That's my friend trying to get a hold me, I'm sorry." she told Tanya.

"Oh, alright." Tanya whispered.

"Here, something to remember me by." Saiyuri said, setting something in her hand.

"What is this?" Tanya asked, examined the necklace. It was leather cord attached to some kind of medallion with a serpent on it.

"It's something I picked up before I left home in one of the trinket stores. Keep it." the older girl said.

"Thank you it's lovely." she whispered.

"I'll try to find you again before I leave town." Saiyuri promised.

"Alright." Tanya whispered, still a little dazed.

As Saiyuri disappeared over a hill, she slid the necklace over her head. The medallion was warm against her bare skin and the cord was long enough to let it slip under her shirt. "Should probably head into the main part of the park, in case the guys show up." she muttered, slinging her bag over her shoulder. A small spark of anger touched her heart as she considered how many times they had left her alone without an explanation.

"Hey, baby." a voice called, breaking her chain of thought.

She glanced over her shoulder and muttered, "Great." Skull was jogging to catch up to her but Bulk was nowhere to be seen.

"Thought you said you were busy." he smirked.

"Yeah well shit happens." she said. He looked at bit surprised at her choice of language.

"Ya got an attitude after all." he said, approvingly.

"Every girls got a bad side, some just don't let it out." she told her.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, really." she smirked. He smirked and leaned down to kiss her. Much to his surprise, she not only accepted the kiss but also threaded one hand in his hair. He traced his tongue over her lips, asking for entrance and amazingly got it. Tanya smirked as his tongue slid into her mouth. Skull's eyes went wide a second later and he squealed in pain. She gave him a rough shove back, sending him toppling onto the ground. He put his hand to his mouth and when he pulled it away, saw blood.

"You bit me! You fucking bit me!" he snapped. His tongue was already starting to swell from the bite.

She spat his blood on the ground and said, "Tough luck." With that she walked right past him.

_**Thanks to the following for their reviews: brankel1, andyg2525 & GhostWriter. Plz go read my other  
Power Rangers fanfic: What Happens Late At Night. And if you still need some good Power Rangers fics:  
go check out GhostWriter's stuff, it's really awsome. Although some of it is not for the weak of heart.**_


	4. Chapter 4

Castle of Lies and Spells

_**Author: Finally got this chapter done. Sorry it took so long, got very sidetracked. As always I own nobody but Tanya & Dawn.  
Thank you to everyone who had left me reviews on this & other fics: especially my friend Ghostwriter. R&R, no flames.  
Song lyrics are from Katy Perry's I Kissed A Girl. Fitting for the last chapter I think.**_

Tanya rolled over and buried herself deeper into her sleeping bag. She and all six of her friends were sleeping in her living room after having been up until almost four in the morning. Trini and Zack lay side by side; her on her stomach and him on his back with their fingers intertwined under a pillow. Tommy and Kim were curled up together but still in their individual sleeping bags. He was on his back with one arm around her waist while she used his chest for a pillow. Billy was a feet few a way from Trini while Jason slept closest to the door. Tanya moved slightly and murmured in her sleep.

"_Where am I?" Tanya asked, looking around. The room was dark, only lit by candles as fog swirled at her feet. "This is kinda creepy." she muttered._

"_Please don't be angry with me, what I did... I did because we need your help." a soft voice pleaded._

"_Saiyuri?" she asked._

"_Please Tanya.. help us." _

"_How!" she shouted._

"_The medallion, use it to find me. Please, you are the only person who can help us." the same soft voice begged but it was quieter than before, like it was far away._

Jason's eyelids fluttered briefly before snapping open. His dark eyes roamed the room, searching for whatever had woken him. He had laid down closest to the door so that he could keep an eye on everyone. It would also allow him to know when someone came into either the living room or kitchen, opened the front door and if someone shut a door upstairs. Slowly he slid from his sleeping bag and padded through the living room, kneeling to check on each of his friends. They were all sleeping peacefully except Tanya who was murmuring in her sleep. He slipped away from her and went to where Tommy and Kim were asleep. "Tommy." he whispered, shaking him gently.

"Huh?" he muttered, cracking an eye open.

"What's the best way to wake Tanya?" he asked.

"What?" he asked, blinking sleep from his eyes.

"She's muttering in her sleep, what's the best way to wake her up?" Jason repeated.

"Shake her, gently though. Tell her she needs to get up. If that doesn't work let me know." Tommy said. Jason nodded and got up.

"What's going on?" Kim whispered.

"Tanya's muttering in her sleep, woke up Jas. He's gonna wake her up." he told her. She nodded before going back to sleep.

"Tanya, wake up." Jason whispered, shaking her shoulder gently. She flinched away from him. "Wake up." he said, a bit sharper this time. Her eyes snapped opened when he gave her a rough shake. There was a swirl of emotions in her hazel eyes before she gave him a sleepy but confused look.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"You were muttering in your sleep." he told her.

"Had a weird dream." she muttered, rolling over to put her back to him.

"Are you gonna be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah thanks." she yawned.

He leaned down, kissed her cheek and whispered, "Come get me if you need me."

"Okay." she breathed as she listened to him leave. Dawn was weird in the fact that she didn't mind the other couples to curl up together but she was a bit leery with Tanya and Jason doing it. Jason got back up, yawned and padded back towards his sleeping bag.

"Did she wake up?" Tommy muttered, half asleep.

"Yeah and she's headed back to sleep." he whispered.

"Right." the other teen breathed, before fully drifting back off to sleep. Jason smiled at his sleeping brother before glancing at each of the others. Zack and Trini were still laying side by side contently. Billy twitched slightly in his sleep but a gentle touch and a murmured word of comfort from Jason put a stop to that. His gaze drifted back to Kim and Tanya, both of whom were sleeping peacefully. As he crawled back into his sleeping bag, he heard an all to familiar series of beeps that were muffled by his pillow. "Go ahead Zordon." he whispered, hoping not to wake anyone up.

"Sleep in peace Jason, all is well." came Zordon's deep, soothing voice through the communicator.

Jason let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding, relaxed and whispered, "Thanks Zordon."

"Good night Rangers." Alpha called from the background. Jason smiled, knowing that only his communicator had gone off and shoved it back under his pillow. Despite the ancient wizard's reassurance, he couldn't help but feel like something was off somewhere in his group of friends.

The rest of the weekend past relatively peacefully with the teens finishing out the weekend with a big dinner at one of their favorite pizza places and a movie before everyone headed home. Tommy would see Kim home as he always did, Billy would ride his bicycle home, Trini would head to Zack's place before getting picked up by her mother and Jason would wait around with Tanya until his ride got there. One thing that Jason noticed that the others didn't seem to was that Tanya was distant. He didn't bring it up to her though, instead gave her a kiss on the mouth, let her hug him and climbed into the car. She waved to his dad and stood outside until they were out of sight before going back inside.

Once back at school, Jason decided to try and figure out what might be wrong with his girlfriend. Almost immediately he spied one person who might know. "Hey Kim, you got a minute?" he asked.

"Yeah what's up?" she chirped, shutting her locker. Tommy was no where in sight, either off at his own locker or getting a bit of extra help with a class.

"Have you noticed Tanya acting weird?" he asked, leaning against the locker next to hers. She folded her arms over her chest and rested her chin on top of one of her books.

"Like how weird?" she muttered.

"She's been sorta distant, like she's off in her own world. I had to wake her up at Dawn's because she was talking In her sleep and after I did, she rolled over and put her back to me like she was mad I woke her up." he told her.

"Did you two have a fight?" she asked, adjusted the pink scarf around her neck.

"No. At least I don't think we did." he said.

"Well then she might just have a lot on her mind. It might be that time of the month; she could not be feeling well again." Kim told him. Jason cringed inwardly at the last two options, especially the thought of her possibly getting sick again.

"She could be noticing that we take off a lot without telling her where or why." she whispered, reaching up to touch his communicator which happened to be a few inches about her head and to her left. He nodded slowly as he glanced over to where Tanya now stood, spinning the lock on her locker.

"Or it could be Bulk and Skull." she groaned, as the pair came down the stairs. Jason took a quick step to keep them away from his girlfriend but Kim grabbed his shirt.

"Kim." he hissed, glaring daggers at the pair of troublemakers.

She hauled him back and said, "She's been training with you and Tommy. Let her deal with them." There was a smirk on her face as she suggested this. He chuckled softly and returned to where he had been, leaning contently against the locker next to hers. Zack, Billy and Trini turned a nearby corner as Tommy came around another. All four saw what was about to happen and walked over to their two friends. Jason put a finger to his lips to silence all them and gave them a smirk that said, _Watch the fun._

Tanya heard the two pairs of footsteps and the familiar jingle of chains before she saw the pair. Or before either of them spoke.

"Hey baby." It was Skull of course, who else would call her "baby" with that much venom in his voice.

"Hey Skull, how's your tongue?" she asked, sticking a couple of books in her locker. No sooner had she removed her hand, did it slam shut in front of her.

"That wasn't very nice." Bulk said, with his fist against her locker.

"Yeah it hurt." Skull added, his voice thicker than usual. His tongue was still a bit swollen; she had bit pretty damn hard after all.

"It was supposed to." she reminded him, leaning against locker and slapping Bulk's hand away from it.

"Where's your boyfriend now?" Bulk asked.

"Behind you with everyone else, enjoying the show no doubt." Tanya said, nodding past the pair.

"Not gonna come stand up for your girlfriend?" Bulk taunted, turning to Jason.

"Why?" he asked sharply. Kim kept a gentle grip of Tommy's arm while Zack kept an eye on Jason.

"She can take you both no problem man." Zack told him. Bulk and Skull shared a glance and moved towards the group of six.

"Oh boys. As much as you two like messing with them, I'm the one you should be worrying about." Tanya called from behind them.

Bulk and Skull turned back towards her. "Think you're pretty tough huh sweetheart?" Bulk asked.

She smirked at him and said, "I hate to say it but the only ones who think they're tough around here are you two."

A growl rumbled up in Bulk's throat and he pulled back his fist. Skull made a grab for Tanya's ponytail as she dodged away from the punch that would have left a very painful bruise had it landed. "That's enough!" a voice shouted. All heads jerked towards one of the hallways, where Mr. Caplan stood. "What's going on here?" the principal demanded looking from Bulk and Skull to Tanya.

"They were giving her a hard time." Zack said pushing himself away from the locker.

"Is that true Miss..." Caplan asked, trailing off since he couldn't place her name.

"Tanya Oliver. Skull's mad because I won't go out with him. He tried to french me in the park a couple of days ago and I bit his tongue. So they decided to try and mess with me now." Tanya said, not letting her gaze move from the pair of punks.

"Bulk tried to hit her." one of the nearby student called.

"Yeah and Skull tried to grab her hair to make sure Bulk could do it. He would have busted her jaw or something." another agreed. Tanya felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end; the other students were unexpected support. She hadn't made friends with too many people since coming to Angel Grove. Tommy, Jason, Kim, Trini, Zack and Billy made up the majority.

"Alright you two, you're both coming with me." Caplan snapped, grabbing them both by the collar of their jackets and hauling them off. Tanya gave the couple of students who had spoken out shy smiles before returning to her locker so she could finish exchanging books.

"See I told you she'd be okay." Kim said, giving Jason a small smile. He returned it and went to Tanya.

"You okay?" he whispered, sliding an arm gently around her waist.

"Yeah I'm fine. They're just a couple of bullies." Tanya told him.

"Hey... did I do something or say something wrong?" he whispered.

"What makes you ask that?" she asked, looking up at him.

"You've been acting kinda weird. I thought maybe I did something." he admitted.

She smiled and said, "No, I've just had a lot on my mind lately." He kissed her cheek before walking off.

"Well?" Kim asked.

"She says she's just had a lot on her mind." Jason told her. She shrugged and tapped his communicator again as if to say: This still might be part of the problem. The bell signaling the start of the next class soon rang through the building loudly.

After school Jason's communicator beeped almost immediately and he led the others into a hallway to answer the call. Within seconds they were on their way to the Command Center.

"Hey Ernie have you seen Jason and the others?" Tanya asked as she came into the Juice Bar.

"No sorry kiddo." he admitted.

"Alright." she muttered.

"Want something to drink?" he asked.

"No, but if you see them tell them I'm going to the park." she told him. He nodded and watched her go. Ernie didn't know what why Jason and the others were never around anymore but he hated to see Tanya get left on her own so often. He would talk to Jason, Tommy and the others next time he saw them.

Tanya kicked at a small rock in front of her as she walked through the park. Absentmindedly she was headed to the secluded area where she had meet Saiyuri. The medallion under her shirt burned pleasantly at the thought of the beautiful young asian woman. Quietly she started to sing:

"It felt so wrong, it felt so right,

don't mean I'm in love tonight

I kissed at girl and I liked it,

I liked it.

Us girls, we are so magical

soft skin, red lips, so kissable

Hard to resist, so touchable

Too good to deny it

It ain't no big deal, it's innocent"

"Now my queen?" a silky voice asked.

"Yes now." a harsh sharp voice replied.

Tanya yelped when the medallion under her shirt began to burn. Grabbing hold of the leather cord she pulled it off, just before the cord caught fire. "What the hell?" she asked, staring down at it as the cord as it steadily burned down into ash. Carefully she crouched to pick up the medallion, which was shockingly cool to the touch. There was a flash of dark green light before the world spun and blurred around her. A split second later the world materialized but she was no longer in the park.

"You've come."

"Where am I?" she asked, looking around. The room was dark with mist rolling over the floor to her knees. The walls were dark stone and the floor probably was of the same. "This is freaky." she said.

"Forgive me but I had no choice." a silky voice whispered.

"Saiyuri?" she asked, looking around.

"Welcome to our palace my dear." a harsh voice said.

"Who are you?" Tanya asked, as a woman stepped out of the shadows. If she hadn't been dressed in such a ugly, bulky dress she might have been pretty. Tanya cringed at the woman's hair that was pulled up into two pigtails on top of her head.

"I am Rita Repulsa." the woman told her.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"My palace." Rita said, in her harsh voice that made Tanya cringe.

"My queen, may I?" Tanya turned to look at a beautiful woman in gold armor.

"Saiyuri?" she asked, squinting at her.

"Please forgive me but I had to find a way to bring you here. You are the only one who can help us." she whispered.

"Help you?" she asked.

"Please let us explain." Rita told her. Slowly Tanya nodded as they led her out of the room.

"We were banished here centuries ago by an ancient wizard named Zordon." Rita said.

"Why? And who is we?" Tanya asked.

"Because we were standing between him and his plots to rule the world. Myself, my king and all of our subjects. He also put us all under spells to make us ugly and restrain our powers." Rita said.

Tanya listened as Rita told her how she had once been beautiful and how both Zedd and Zordon had courted her. In the end she had chosen Zedd and Zordon had flown into a jealous rage: cursing them, their court and the peasants to become monsters. Rita however had managed to cast a spell which managed to dampen the effects on herself, her sister Scorpina and Zedd. It had worked very little on Zedd, partly on Scorpina and mostly on Rita, preventing the sorceress queen from becoming a monster. After Zedd sealed them away, he hid away in a different dimension for thousands of years. "So why do you need my help now if he's been in hiding for so long?" she asked finally.

"We need a champion. A powerful, cunning individual to lead our troops against Zordon's." Zedd said.

"I'm not that powerful or cunning. I do pretty well in school but I'm actually sick a lot." she told them.

"You are cunning my dear. We've been watching you and we can make you well." Rita purred.

"You can make me not get sick?" she asked.

"Not as often, we don't want anyone close to you to notice a drastic change in you." Scorpina said.

"Come let me show you Zordon's champions: the Power Rangers." Rita said. She led Tanya to a telescope and whispered, "Look."

"There's six of them." Tanya said, staring through the telescope down at the Red, Blue, Pink, Black, Yellow and White Power Rangers.

"Yes and you will be powerful enough to defeat them." Zedd promised her.

"How?" she asked, pulling away from the telescope.

"The coin that brought you here." Scorpina said. Tanya looked down at the medallion that had been on the leather cord and noticed it did look oddly like a large coin.

"Hold it out in front of you and we will give you the power to defeat the Power Rangers." Rita said.

Tanya did as she was told as Rita and Zedd crossed their staffs. A bolt of blue green lighting hit the coin and shot through her body. There was no pain just a comfortable pulse of energy just under her skin. Slowly she opened her eyes and saw that she now wore an outfit nearly identical to the Power Rangers except it was dark blue green. With a flash of the same colored light a whip with a snake's head appeared in her hand. "Do you like the power we have give you, Serpentine Ranger?" Rita asked.

"Very much my queen." she purred.


End file.
